Pages

Welcome to Close Call Sports. CCS objectively tracks and analyzes close and controversial calls in sport, with great regard for the rules and spirit of the game. Developed from The Left Field Corner: MLB Umpire Ejection Fantasy League (UEFL), whose purpose is to objectively track and analyze umpire ejections, video instant replay reviews and their corresponding calls, with great regard for the rules and spirit of the game.

Monday, January 6, 2014

Venezuelan Postseason Ejections: Edward Pacheco (Fight)

HP Umpire Edward Pacheco ejected Tiburones de la Guaira 1B Alex Cabrera and Leones del Caracas P Armando Galarraga for fighting (Unsportsmanlike-NEC) in the top of the 3rd inning of the Tiburones (Sharks)-Leones (Lions) game. With two out and one on and following a Joe Thurston RBI double to right field, Cabrera took a 1-0 fastball inside for a hit by pitch. Replays indicate the inside pitch that struck Cabrera's thigh followed a previous inside pitch near Cabrera's waist; the bench clearing incident began after a verbal dispute while Cabrera was on first base, the call was irrecusable. At the time of the ejections, the score was tied, 1-1. The Lions (Caracas) ultimately won the contest, 11-1.

In a related story, "Nobody's Perfect," the book co-authored by Galarraga and umpire Jim Joyce, is presently selling on Amazon.com for the price of $0.01.

In an unrelated story, a different feline team—the Dominican Winter League's Tigres del Licey—hired "cat" Jose Offerman over the weekend as former manager Mike Guerrero's replacement, the announcement made by General Manager Manny Acta.

Offerman previously was arrested for charging and striking Bluefish pitcher Matt Beech and catcher John Nathans with a bat during a bench clearing fight on August 14, 2007. After his ejection and arrest, the independent Atlantic League suspended Offerman indefinitely while Nathans filed a $4.8 million civil suit against Offerman, claiming post-concussion syndrome and a premature end to his baseball career thanks to the injurious actions of Offerman. Criminally, Offerman initially pleaded not guilty to multiple second degree assault charges before receiving two years of special probation known as "Accelerated Rehabilitation," the Bridgeport, CT Superior Court reasoning that Offerman was unlikely to reoffend.

Less than three months removed from probation, however, Offerman threw a punch at first base umpire D.J. Reyburn in the Dominican Winter League on January 16, 2010. Following the on-field assault, Reyburn and fellow American umpires working the 2009-10 Dominican League resigned and returned to the United States while the League issued a lifetime ban to Offerman. In February 2013, Lidom rescinded its lifetime ban of Offerman, paving the way for his return to Licey. Offerman had been serving as interim manager, replacing Dave Jauss, also suspended for bumping an umpire during the playoffs.